History: (What If? II#63/3) - When Tony Stark was thought dead, Jim
Rhodes offered a position at Stark Enterprises to Iron Man's old enemy, the
Living Laser. Once the Laser accepted, he found that none of the other employees
trusted him. In order to prove himself, he impersonated Jim Rhodes and was
called to the Medlab, where he found that Tony Stark was, in fact, alive.
Seeing the Laser, Abe Zimmer hit the security button which called Iron Man
to the scene. When Iron Man arrived, Tony begged him to get the Living
Laser away before he killed him. Stark then explained how he didn't mean
to deceive him by faking his death, but he was worried about his enemies
like the Living Laser attacking him in his weakened condition. Rhodes
grabbed Tony and exclaimed that the Living Laser had been a model employee
during his time at Stark Enterprises and threatened to quit until Stark agreed
to leave the Laser employed at Stark Enterprises, but warned that the Laser
was now Jim's responsibility.
Later, when the employees at Stark got in line
for their paychecks, the Laser threw a fit about the small amount of his
paycheck. War Machine quickly explained that a lot of their money earned
went to taxes and such, but offered overtime work for the Laser. The Laser
agreed and soon, both he and War Machine were battling terrorists side-by-side.
During their battle, the Laser noticed that some of the fire chipped a piece
of War Machine's armor. Realizing that War Machine had lied to him earlier
about removing the Prisma-Polymer Laser-Proofing from his armor, the Laser
left. Days later, the Living Laser attacked the Medlab to go after Tony Stark,
but was stopped by War Machine who shot the Laser with a weapon designed
to keep his energy form unstable. Tony then informed War Machine
that the medical staff of the Medlab had been taken over by the Controller
and that the Living Laser was actually saving him.
Days after the incident,
War Machine kept a vigil as Stark's Laser-Accelerator reconstituted the Living
Laser's form. While Jim was waiting, Tony approached him and asked him to
help in recovering the Stark Enterprises Orbital Facility, which recently
went offline. War Machine agreed to help and Stark replied that with boosters,
he could hit orbit in an hour. The Living Laser interrupted them and explained
that he could be there at the speed of light. Stark released the Laser and
he flew off into space, where he entered the Orbital Facility. The Living
Laser was surprised at the amount of damage and injured people. He was soon
attacked by the Technovore, who was trying to assimilate the Laser into himself.
After making quick work of the Technovore, the Laser reported back to Stark
explained what had happened to the Orbital Facility. He then explained that
he would stay aboard the Facility, given that he was neither tech, nor organic,
so he was in no risk of infection from the Technovore.

After being employed by Stark Enterprises and discovering that Tony Stark
was actually alive, the Living Laser continued to work for Stark at the request
of James Rhodes. He eventually discovered that no one trusted him, but continued
his work until the Controller took over the minds of Tony Stark's medical
staff. The Living Laser jumped in to save Stark, but War Machine thought
he was attacking Stark and blasted him with a weapon that dispersed his energy.
Stark managed to reconstitute his form in time for the Stark Enterprises
Orbital Facility to go offline. The Laser agreed to help and traveled into
space, where he confronted the Technovore. He then reported back to Stark
and explained the situation, at which point he agreed to stay aboard the
Facility to prevent any further infection from the Technovore.